Candy Mountain Run

David – I have to ask… if Bruce said he’d play either Candy Mountain Run and Tango King for you, which would you choose?! 😆

Don’t be forced to choose, try to get them both, at every show if possible.

Well the big rock candy mountain…

I’m Positive you have fallen off of your rocker but I definitely want to hear about the Dream. 😆

Pleeeease tell us about your dream David! Pretty please with sugar on top?

Jackie

I may have missed it, but has anyone ever figured out what this song means?
I would love to find out. Its a very catchy song, but would be nice to know the meaning behind the song.
Thanks all!

Thanks for the input makes sense and I just want to take a wild guess…I may be thinking totally wrong which I do alot…but..Cartoons and Candy
But I would like to see what others think.

Re:

Have you heard the recording where they use the words to “Gilligan’s Island” and sing them to the tune of “Stairway To Heaven”? A classic. Almost as good as Weird Al’s singing the words to “The Brady Bunch” with the tune of “The Safety Dance.”

David Day wrote:

Now that’s sounds like some serious begging! 😆 I am glad you finally responded!

I’ll make a deal with you. You tell us your take on Candy Mountain Run and I’ll tell you my dream. I do think you would find it interesting!

What do you think the lyrics are all about? Or, are they “meaningless” put to a good tune? Or, do they have some “underlying message” Bruce is trying to portray to us?

I do like your thoughts!

You go first……..

Ooh… I love a challenge. Give me a day or so to work this one out. I’m sure you will either be amused or concerned for my mental health.

Rich

This one was tough. I read the lyrics, and read them again, and then listened to the song, and, well, you get the idea. Exhaustive research went into trying to figure this tune out.

Then it hit me.

Bruce has taken several opportunities in his career to write story songs about the so-called seemier side of the human experience. “Down The Road Tonight” was about a hometown whorehouse. “Walk In The Sun” was about a bouncer at a strip bar who was in love with one of the dancers. So, why shouldn’t Bruce take a stab at writing another song of that ilk, disguising it with lyrics that might appeal to children because of the endless references to candy.

With this in mind, I scoured the internet for information about this. As you all know, everything that you see on the internet is 100% true, and should be believed without question.

And I found it! There was a site (whose url I have accidentally on purpose forgotten) that was originally dedicated to misheard lyrics but then got carried away and delved into the fascinating realm of obscure rock music trivia. At this site, I learned wonderous things I had never known before. For instance, the Beatles song “Helter Skelter” was an olbique reference to the WWII bombing attacks on the UK by the Germans. I also learned that the first band to record the song, “Video Killed The Radio Star” was Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club. Did you know that Boy George was actually not a boy at all, but rather a female Elvis impersonator named Louise who was trying to get a movie gig in Hollywood? Milli Vanilli was, in fact, not a hoax. Their records did exist.

Then, I found this little nugget….

In the late 90s, there was a project that was being put together by the famous conductor and composer, John Williams (among other thigns, he wrote the music for the “Star Wars” movies and the theme song for the television show, “The Monkees”). This project, similar to the now famous “Shadow Hands” project, was called “Theme Songs For Movies That Were Never Made.” Various famous musicians and songwriters were asked to go through all of the books, magazine articles, sports reports, urban legends web sites, and personal flights of fancy, all with the aim of coming up with an idea for a movie that has never been made, and then to write and record a theme song for that “film.” Needless to say, this project was never completed. There were several recordings that did make it out to the public in slightly different form. The least famous of these was an attempt by So What (a band that has never successfully recorded anything) to write a theme song in the off-chance that anyone would make a movie about the Robert Heinlein novel, “Time Enough For Love” – the memoirs of a character named Lazarus Long, who apparently was unable to die. When this recording project was abandoned, the song (titled “You Can Live Forever”) was picked up by an upcoming Contemporary Christian artist, “Not Papists.”

Down on the list of projects was a Bruce Hornsby effort to write a theme song for an adult film about a track and field team made up entirely of porn stars, titled “Cunning Runts.” The lead character in this film was to be a rather buxom young lass whose stage name is Candi Mountains, whose goal was to come in first (sic) in Atlanta, even if the Olympics held there were long over.

Always the wordsmith an master of double-entendre, Bruce’s song was full of cute references to the song, “Rock Candy Mountain,” a favorite with children. The idea of a “children’s song” type of lyrics structure was brought about by a comment from one of his band members, who looked at a picture of the intended lead actress, and said something to the effect of “just watching her makes small kids instinctively get hungry.”

When the project was abandoned, Bruce chose to put this song on the shelf, only to revive it in somewhat modified form when he was recoding his “Halcyon Days” CD.

OK…. that’s one possibility. I’ve got a few other ideas, all equally unlikely and absurd.

wouldn’t it be candy rock mountain instead?

interesting theory though.

If Bruce were from Bodmin moor where I grew up I’d say he’d be munching magic mushrooms and found himself chewing on a tree thinking he was in hansel and grettel.

Kind regards

Dave Rich